MichaelRT

I think it all got started for me between the ages of 5 and 7. My dad showed me the album “Direct” by Vangelis. I had no idea what I was listening to but I liked it in conjunction with the other stuff he showed me: Bruce Cockburn, Steely Dan, Peter Gabriel and Joe Jackson to name a few. There was something about the sound on “Direct” that made me enjoy it more.

My dad was a drummer and I was always tapping on things and finger drumming on my desk at school. Around age 8 or 9, I learned how to play the drums and started taking drum lessons. But this required me to read sheet music and practice drums daily which I didn’t want to do. I just wanted to play freely and do whatever I wanted. So my mom canceled the drum lessons because I wasn’t getting any better and I ended up putting off drums all together. My drum kit would sit in the corner of my bedroom for years, collecting dust.

Then in 2004, my dad showed me some new music that he just heard. This was the album “The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place” by Explosions in the Sky. I remember not being able to understand it during the first listening through the stereo system in my dad’s Volkswagen. But after a few days, it must have triggered something. The tone of the guitars with the interesting drumming and the absence of vocals caused me to fall in love. Besides the drum solo at the end of “Aja” by Steely Dan, no music had given me chills like this before. “Memorial” was unbelievably emotional. This was revolutionary for me.

I decided to do online research using the iTunes Store, which showed me that Explosions had 3 albums for sale. I downloaded “How Strange, Innocence” and “Those Who Tell The Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell The Truth Shall Live Forever,” giving me more chills, especially with the songs “Snow and Lights” and “The Moon Is Down.” But the thing about the iTunes store, and this changed my life forever, is that they feature the “Listeners Also Bought” section towards the bottom of the page. Artists like Caspian, Mogwai and The Six Parts Seven and starting popping up leading to even more discoveries in the genre of “Post Rock.”

It was around this time that my dad showed me an Internet radio station called “Drone Zone” on Soma FM. Commercial-free, continuous streaming of ambient music that only made me dive deeper into exploring more music. I would make note of songs that I liked, recording the artist name and song. Artists like Aphex Twin, Boards of Canada, Max Corbacho, Donnacha Costello, Markus Guentner, Tim Hecker, Thomas Köner, Cliff Martinez, Stars of the Lid and Steve Roach became instant favorites of mine.

So, age 14 and listening to nothing but Ambient and Post Rock and then adding Math Rock to my taste 2 years later with artists like Ahleuchatistas, Battles, By the End of Tonight, Don Caballero, Giraffes? Giraffes!, Hella, Maps and Atlases, Piglet and everything drummer Zach Hill was involved in. This caused me to pick up the drums again, teaching myself how to play various songs from some of these artists. These songs made me enjoy playing drums so much more. I remember being frustrated during my early days of drumming, deliberately breaking sticks to prove a point or something. I’ve forgotten why.

I started experimenting with Apple’s GarageBand in 2004, playing with the synthesizers and guitars. From there I started recording ambient music for myself under the artist name “International Anthem.” No word of a lie, I got hooked. I started making full-length albums and began uploading them to the Internet Archive. The music was sloppy and featured many mistakes with playing and mixing but I enjoyed it fully.

Then in 2011, a local friend was looking for a drummer. I decided to join their band “Halicarnassus,” which was a sort of Alternative Rock group. There were just three of us in the band and after 1 or 2 months of practicing and playing 1 live show, we decided to add 2 more members to the band. But these 2 others were much more popular and advanced in songwriting. They had a concept band idea called “Cosmonauts” where each song and album would be structured around an idea or story. Cosmonauts was an Alterative Rock band with some elements of Ambient and Post Rock finding their way in there. The music was dark and the lyrics were even darker but it taught me a lot about music.

We played a little over 50 shows from 2011 to 2013 and recorded 2 albums. We broke up in 2013 but remain the best of friends. But what’s really important here for me is that I had access to my friends guitars and pedal boards. They were kind enough to let me borrow their gear and bring it home with me. I would experiment with delay and reverb pedals, recording 5 songs a night. I started buying my own pedals and one of my friends gave me his cheap Yamaha guitar to hold onto.

This new music I was recording was mostly Post Rock and so I decided to change my artists name to “Mountains on Fire.” I started creating concept albums of my own, where songs were structured around a story. I remember one story of a boy and girl who get together but the girl’s crazy ex-boyfriend comes after her and the new boy has to defend her but his weakness is that he works long hours at a factory. Corny ideas like that, I would write songs about them, aiming to make them dramatic and give listeners chills. I don’t know if it worked but it was fun nonetheless.

Since late 2013, I started making Ambient guitar albums, where I would have a multitude of loops running through my pedal board, creating Dark Ambient atmospheres. I kept playing and adapting and learning to where I am now. In January of this year, I changed my name again to “Michael R.T.” My first album “Blood Boy” was all guitar driven Ambient loops and soundscapes, aimed to be featured in independent films or documentaries. I followed it up with the release of “Hudsucker Proxy Suicide” which featured more Ambient material, all on guitar, with some drums coming into the closing song.

From there to right now, I’ve been experimenting with samples and loops, distorting them and trying to sound somewhat similar to Tim Hecker. He is my idol in this area of music. Everyone has their own favorite artist and what he does simply amazes me every time. My favorite album of all time in any genre is “An Imaginary Country.” The walls of distortion and noise that he makes is something I would like to make. I’ve released 2 albums going this way. “Houseraser” and “Quiet Border” are my most recent additions and I hope to eventually get the type of sound that Hecker creates.

Well, if you did, thanks for reading my story. This is my first post so I can't share any links yet but I'm on BandCamp as Michael R.T.

If you're interested, look me up. All my music is free for download.